Goethe on How to Treat Men

“Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is, but treat a man as he can and should be, and he will become as he can and should be.”

— Goethe

Hmmm… well, I’d have to qualify Goethe’s quotation by adding that it is true if and only if the man not only has the potential, but is willing to act on his potential to become something beyond what he already is… and that is very rare; so actually, Goethe is describing the ideal situation, not the common one (…leave it to the Romantics to constantly idealize! ;).